International operator Vodafone Group plc has agreed to acquire a majority interest in Indian mobile operator Hutchison Essar Ltd. for $11.1 billion-however, whether a major shareholder will cooperate is unclear.Vodafone said it had reached the multibillion-dollar deal to acquire companies that control a 67-percent...
At the 3GSM World Congress, as at other major industry confabs, there are gadgets galore. And then there are the market-based strategies and financial plans behind them. Attempting to translate one into the other-reading the gadgets' features for clues to a vendor's strategies or...
International operator Vodafone Group plc has agreed to acquire a majority interest in Indian mobile operator Hutchison Essar Ltd. for $11.1 billion.Vodafone will acquire companies that control a 67-percent interest in Hutch Essar via company subsidiary Vodafone International Holdings B.V. Vodafone said that it...
Editor's Note: Welcome our Monday feature, Analyst Angle. We've collected a group of the industry's leading analysts to give their outlook on the hot topics in the wireless industry. In the coming weeks look for columns from Strategy Analytics' Chris Ambrosio, Ovum's Roger Entner...
Texas Instruments Inc., established in 1930 to develop oil exploration technology, has grown into a predominantly wireless-based powerhouse with $14.3 billion in annual revenue last year. Its main customer for its digital signal processors is Nokia Corp., the world's largest cellphone vendor. By revenue,...
Texas made good on its threat to sue Sprint Nextel Corp., asserting the No. 3 mobile-phone carrier's imposition of a new fee violates the state's deceptive trade practices law and a 2004 industry settlement with state attorneys general around the country."Sprint Nextel has defrauded...
Mobile virtual network operator Helio L.L.C. said last week that it expects to reach the 100,000-customer mark by early in the second quarter and launched a full-track music download service to compete with similar offerings from rival MVNOs and traditional operators.The company ended last...
The recently merged Alcatel-Lucent announced plans to cut 3,500 jobs in addition to the 9,000 job cuts it previously announced. The French-American company also posted a loss of almost $800 million in its fourth quarter.Interestingly, the company sought to give the bad news a...
Just as the GSM Association prepares to announce the winner of its low-cost 3G handset contract in conjunction with the group's 3GSM trade show in Barcelona, Spain, next week, the CDMA Development Group rolled out news that some CDMA handsets are now selling for...
Texas made good on its threat to sue Sprint Nextel Corp., asserting the No. 3 mobile-phone carrier's imposition of a new fee violates the state's deceptive trade practices law and a 2004 industry settlement with state attorneys general around the country."Sprint Nextel has defrauded...
Helio L.L.C. expects to reach the 100,000-customer mark by early in the second quarter, and its subscribers have been generating average revenue per user of more than $100 per month, the mobile virtual network operator said.The company ended 2006 with 70,000 customers, according to...
Motorola Inc.'s recent, sobering earnings report came with a number of explanations of how the American vendor would turn things around. Motorola executives mentioned, among several factors, their portfolio mix-and the role of 3G in a higher-average selling price, higher-margin mix of handsets. Ed...
Texas Comptroller Susan Combs warned Sprint Nextel Corp. it could be audited and sued if it continues to collect fees from subscribers to cover the cost of the state's revised franchise tax, but the carrier said the law is on its side."It's not unusual...
FOR THOSE WHO WATCH Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications L.P., sifting for signs that the Japanese-Swedish partnership will accelerate efforts to gain market share, last week's news on the vendor's plans in India was tantalizing.The Sony Ericsson-generated news release provided few specifics on the deal...
Hello! And welcome to our Thursday column, Worst of the Week. There's a lot of nutty stuff that goes on in this industry, so this column is a chance for us at RCR Wireless News the chance to rant and rave about whatever rubs...
Editor's Note: Welcome to our Monday feature, Analyst Angle. We've collected a group of the industry's leading analysts to give their outlook on the hot topics in the wireless industry. In the coming weeks look for columns from Strategy Analytics' Chris Ambrosio, M:Metrics' Seamus...
Like an Angelina Jolie adoptee, mobile advertising has come under a glaring spotlight in its early days. Sprint Nextel Corp. attracted attention last fall when it became the first tier-one carrier to sell ad space on its wireless Web navigation pages, and both Cingular...
Competitive intelligence in the handset business is, in a sense, an open secret. Everyone is engaged in it to some degree, yet it is rarely discussed publicly. Industry players not only keep their own work secret, they don't want to tip their hand on...
Rarely does a handset launch embody the challenges and strategies of a carrier and its vendor partner as clearly as the recent offer from Sprint Nextel Corp. and Motorola Inc. of PowerSource handsets.Sprint Nextel has acknowledged that the loss of post-paid iDEN subscribers is...
While Sprint Nextel Corp. has faced downgrades in recent weeks from various investment companies, the carrier still is feeling the love from investment-banking firm Raymond James. Analyst Ric Prentiss rated the company's stock as a "strong buy" in a recent research note based on...
Palm Inc. finally made good on its vow to offer push e-mail service similar to Research In Motion Ltd.'s BlackBerry service.The company announced an upgrade to its VersaMail service for Palm Treo 680 and 700 smartphones that will include Microsoft Corp.'s Direct Push technology....
Mobile-phone and high-tech sectors urged the new Democratic-led Congress to oppose any effort to dilute the pool of auction-bound 700 MHz spectrum, a major portion of which is being sought by public safety advocates."The American public wants Congress to work in a bi-partisan manner...
Alltel Corp. wireless customers who just can't get enough of personalizing their wireless phones now have a new option: ringback tones. The carrier introduced a ringback tone service, and will charge $1 per month for the offering. The fee includes one complimentary ringback tone;...
I have bought into the WiMAX hype. I'm a true believer.When Nortel, Motorola, Alvarion and other WiMAX vendors gush over all the great things WiMAX will do-level the playing field for carriers, speed up data rates and, most importantly, lower prices for consumers-I get...
